Feather Transformation

The sky was freezing, and snowflakes drifted down.

Chen Xuan lay buried in the thick snow, carefully concealing his form, then pulled out the paper from his bosom again and glanced at it a few times.

"The Twelve Spiritual Qi Breathing Method is truly profound beyond compare..."

This was a Qi-refining breathing method obtained from the Fat Yellow Man, and the handwriting on it looked quite familiar... written by Wang Chan.

In the three days since leaving Willow Town, Chen Xuan had read it over and over countless times, yet even now, he felt a surge of heartfelt admiration and emotion.

Good stuff was good stuff; even if an enemy wrote it, that couldn't hide its quality.

"So this is the 'Yellow Millet Dream'?"

Junior Brother Wang Chan—was he a reincarnated person, or some even more special existence?

Chen Xuan had seen similar records in ancient texts: in the Ancient Era, someone attained enlightenment and immortality in a dream, enjoying boundless wealth and glory, but when they woke up, the yellow millet steaming in the cauldron hadn't yet cooked through.

That was the origin of the Yellow Millet Dream.

In the ancient texts, some commented that it was "flowers in a mirror, the moon on water, like a single dream."

But others firmly believed that everything experienced in that dream could "turn from illusion to reality, reflecting the present world."

"Could it be that in Wang Chan's dream, I really am a villain who betrays his master and destroys his sect, arrogant and unruly?"

Chen Xuan was puzzled, and at the same time vaguely guessed that Wang Chan didn't seem to be deliberately targeting him.

Wang Chan might have just casually mentioned a few things about Chen Xuan from the Yellow Millet Dream while talking with someone from Green Deer Mountain. Some people would hear it and laugh it off, but others would be greatly shaken and believe it without doubt... thus sparking the whole chain of events that followed.

But in truth, these disturbances and the stories about Chen Xuan might all be trivial matters in Wang Chan's eyes.

Wang Chan had already left Willow Town long ago, heading to the Peach Blossom Garden in the neighboring Peach Town's jurisdiction, to seek the precious opportunities from his dream...

But to Chen Xuan, all of this felt absurd.

And it carried a kind of condescending... arrogance.

"Even if he's a reincarnated person, so what? We've only got one life each—who's afraid of who?"

Chen Xuan muttered to himself.

He thought the Yellow Millet Dream wasn't as miraculous as the rumors claimed; at least, Wang Chan didn't know he was a transmigrator, or that he even had a trump card like [Heartfast]...

Who was stronger and who was weaker was still unknown!

"This [Mystic Cat Breathing Method] is, in many ways, more profound and subtle than the method Wang Chan spat out."

Chen Xuan adjusted his breathing, matching a certain special rhythm—it was the strange breathing method he'd learned from the Mystic Cat Goddess.

In Heartfast, he had possessed the Mystic Cat, noticed her unique breathing rhythm and the flow of energy within her body, which was extraordinary, and immediately memorized it.

"This breathing method is on a higher level, more obscure and difficult to grasp."

Chen Xuan had practiced martial arts for many years and was experienced; comparing the two breathing methods, it was easy to draw a conclusion.

He would only use Wang Chan's breathing method as a reference, not practice it casually. Because the Mystic Cat had muttered that things spat out by the Yellow Millet Dream shouldn't be taken lightly.

"Growl..."

Chen Xuan's hungry stomach suddenly let out an untimely sound.

"Oink!"

In the snowy distance, a black wild boar out foraging suddenly stopped, warily looking around for danger.

"Boom!"

Chen Xuan immediately flipped out of a nearby snowdrift and charged over with the force of thunder.

An hour later, in a dilapidated, abandoned temple.

"Sizzle!"

The campfire flickered; a skinned and cleaned wild boar was propped up above it, golden oil dripping with a sizzle, the aroma of meat emanating all around.

"So fragrant."

Chen Xuan pulled out a few bottles and jars from his pack, sprinkled spices onto the wild boar meat, then cut off a large chunk of roasted meat with a small sword.

This captured wild boar was no small size, a good hundred or two hundred catties. If any outsider had been present, they would have been shocked—even an experienced hunter wouldn't dare face a fierce wild boar alone, yet Chen Xuan had caught it with a small sword on a snowy night.

Outside the broken temple, heavy snow drifted, and the cold wind cut like a knife.

Inside the broken temple, Chen Xuan was roasting and eating meat, enjoying a leisurely comfort.

"After eating this wild boar, it should be enough to cover the consumption for my Qi-refining breakthrough."

Chen Xuan thought as he ate. He had been practicing the Mystic Cat Breathing Method for three days straight, and now he felt something mysterious and profound rapidly taking shape inside him.

Chen Xuan's stomach was like a bottomless pit, like a glutton opening its gaping maw; in just half an hour, he had wolfed down dozens of catties of roasted meat.

"Huff, huff..."

Suddenly, his breathing grew rapid, and a flame seemed to rise within him, making him unbearably thirsty, his throat nearly smoking.

Immediately afterward, a vast amount of white mist steamed from his body surface, carrying away countless impurities. His torso turned bright red, like a piece of iron ore being refined in a furnace.

The Mystic Cat Breathing Method had entered its threshold!

"Hot, too hot..."

Chen Xuan couldn't bear it. He quickly stripped off his clothes, rushed out of the ruined temple, and rolled around in the bitingly cold snow.

"Hiss, hiss!"

The snow beneath him melted rapidly, as if boiling, and the snow water cleansed the impurities expelled from his body surface.

"Hiss!"

Suddenly, a hair-thin golden thread, radiant and dazzling, swam out from within Chen Xuan's body.

This golden thread was highly spirited, born from his five viscera and six bowels. It passed through his pores, carrying away old turbidity, dancing in the white mist to cleanse his marrow and refine his essence.

"I'm beginning [Feather Transformation]!"

Chen Xuan realized with a start that he was undergoing a qualitative change, a rebirth from the ground up.

"Hiss, hiss!"

Then, a silvery white thread, even finer than a hair, swam out from his body. It danced in the air, complementing the golden thread's brilliance.

Soon after, more threads emerged, one after another. Some were emerald green, shimmering with the luster of jade stones; others were fiery red, like red coral from the deep sea—dazzling and multicolored...

"Whoosh!"

Hundreds upon thousands of these flowing, radiant threads, dense and tangled, interwove on Chen Xuan's body surface. They seemed to be forming a massive cocoon, but more like stitching together a covering... a feathered garment.

Feather Transformation!

An insect becomes a pupa, then breaks free from the pupa, renewing its life, and ultimately ascends to a higher level of existence.

Just as in the savage Mountains and Seas Era, when all things were ferocious, the first human donned a feathered garment for covering, and thus began the brilliant civilization of Qi Refiners!

Chen Xuan was undergoing this very transformation. Soon, a wave of drowsiness washed over him, and he fell into a deep sleep in the snow. A flowing, radiant feathered garment draped over him, warding off the chill of the snow.

"Ah-choo!"

About an hour later, Chen Xuan was jolted awake by the cold. He pushed aside the snow piled on top of him and crawled out from beneath it.

"Huff!"

Chen Xuan exhaled a puff of scalding hot breath. He clenched his fists tightly, feeling the suddenly surging strength within his body.

Originally, he could only punch with five hundred jin of force, but now, it had already increased to a thousand jin.

An increase of five hundred jin out of nowhere!

Moreover, the hidden injuries his body had sustained in the previous fierce battles were completely healed. His lungs and viscera were brimming with vibrant vitality, and every inch of his flesh and blood pulsed with newfound power.

"I've now become a 'non-human' existence."

Chen Xuan thought excitedly. This Qi Refining was truly different—power came too easily!

Then, he performed a set of punches in the snow. His movements were swift as phantoms, and his fists exploded like spring thunder, blasting apart all the swirling snowflakes in the air.

This scene was already the aura of a transcendent Martial Arts Grandmaster!

"That Fat Yellow Man trained in Qi Refining for a month and succeeded in [Feather Transformation], reaching a thousand jin of force."

"And I've only trained for three days, yet I've already caught up to him!"

Chen Xuan had full confidence in himself. When he practiced martial arts, he was already the top martial expert in Willow Town. Now that he was refining Qi, he naturally wouldn't fall behind mediocre men.

If he were to encounter the Fat Yellow Man again now, he wouldn't need to use a killing move; he could win fair and square with just his fists.

"Also, I feel like this Feather Transformation was interrupted halfway and wasn't fully completed..."

Chen Xuan frowned, recalling the state he was in before falling asleep.

At that time, although the feathered garment had draped over him, it was woven shabbily and very crude, with gaps everywhere, failing to fully cover his body.

"Is it because I've been practicing the breathing method for too short a time and lack the proper skill? Or is there another reason?"

Chen Xuan pondered, then sighed. "I'm still too lacking in some common knowledge of the Qi Refining World."

He came from a humble background, with no predecessors to guide him. He had to figure everything out on his own.

Just then.

Chen Xuan suddenly sensed something. His gaze turned alert as he looked into the distance.

"Someone's coming."

He saw a group of people trudging through the vast snow toward the ruined temple.

"In this kind of weather, anyone still traveling in a hurry isn't an ordinary person."

Before long, the group of travelers from afar entered the ruined temple where Chen Xuan was.

A black-robed old man, around fifty or sixty years old, cupped his fists toward Chen Xuan and asked:

"Honored sir, the snow outside is falling heavily. We've traveled a long way from Red Crow City—might we rest here for a while?"

The Black-robed Old Man wore a smile on his face, his demeanor courteous.

Chen Xuan returned the greeting from beside the campfire: "This temple isn't mine, everyone, please do as you please."

Then, as he turned the roast wild boar on the spit, he sized up the group from the corner of his eye, inwardly on alert.

There were three of them, old and young alike.

The leading Black-robed Old Man was thin and small, with a head full of white hair, a goatee, and a hint of shrewdness in his eyes.

The remaining two were about the same age as Chen Xuan, appearing to be a brother and sister.

Chen Xuan took a couple of extra glances at the Maiden. She was quite beautiful, dressed in a light red cloud-patterned long gown, with a silver-white necklace ring around her neck, the ring slightly lifted by her chest.

She wore no makeup, her skin fair, and her Peach Blossom Eyes, as if wanting to speak yet holding back, were full of spirit. When Chen Xuan looked at her, she stared back directly, carrying a bright and striking aura.

The other young man seemed far inferior in temperament. Wrapped in a black brocade robe, his face wasn't ugly, but it bore a sickly bluish-purple tint, as if he were gravely ill.

"Each one looks odd—clearly Qi Refiners."

Chen Xuan guessed inwardly, then decided to probe these three for some information about the Qi Refining World.

With a warm smile, he took the initiative to speak: "Everyone, the weather's cold and the road's long. I've got a fire here and freshly roasted wild boar—why not come over and give it a try..."

The three exchanged glances at his words.

Before long, some extremely useful information was "easily" pried out by Chen Xuan.

Outside the temple.

At this moment, the view pulled back from the sky, revealing a vast expanse of white covering the mountains and fields. Beneath some towering, cloud-piercing cities, ant-like figures could be seen emerging one after another, converging from all directions toward the Ten Thousand Mountains in the southern wilderness.

A fierce wind howled, rolling layers of snow.